Flower Patch Farmgirl

Saturday I got to meet up with Shannan from Flower Patch Farmgirl! I have to tell ya, it was pretty cool. If I had to sum her up in just one sentence, it would be that she's the Real Deal. 

 I'm naturally shy so I was definitely nervous. Then I was running late, and then there was a huge thunderstorm the entire drive there. The kind where the wipers are on full blast and people are pulled under the overpass to wait it out. Then I got lost.... It was quickly turning into not how I pictured this whole thing going down.

I eventually found her, seated in a cushy yellow booth at La Fiesta. We planned on wearing matching blue gingham because, let's face it, it's cute. And two girls wearing gingham is twice as cute. That and our matching cuffs from Becky at Farmgirl Paints and we were stylin'. Okay, her waaay more than me but that's okay. We all know she's got that 'eye' for fashion. I kept wondering what might happen if we clicked our bracelets together, like some sort of updated (and way less creepy) version of blood sisters where we are then committed to friendship for life. Seriously, who wouldn't want her to be a friend for life??

We sat there and talked about all kinds of stuff. Anything from parenting to how we grew up. The conversation was easy. I got the feeling she genuinely cared about what I had to say. I don't know if it's just my upbringing or what but I don't always feel like I have a lot to add to any certain situation. True, I can change a diaper in record speed or bandage a scraped knee with ease but I tend to step back in conversation, never wanting to say too much or give people the impression I know it all. Except when it comes to my babies, that is. I could describe in perfect detail the color of their eyes or each freckle placement on their petite frames. But to someone I've never actually met before?  Well, I wasn't sure what I could offer to someone I didn't really know.  But as I sat there across from my gingham clad twin, all of that worry just sort of dissipated and I felt like I was there with a good friend. She's so open and honest, she doesn't pretend to have it all figured out. I so appreciate that. I crave deep conversation and I love the way two girls who adore the Lord can get knee deep in discussions simply because there's already a level of trust established.

We left La Fiesta with full bellies and...three tubs of salsa. You gotta love a girl that asks for three tubs of salsa to take home. We exchanged the famous stool in the parking lot and headed south towards Tipp City. She wanted to take me to one of her favorite little antique shoppes. The whole time I kept thinking how cool it was to watch Flower Patch Farmgirl work her magic. I loved seeing the things she was drawn to, the things that caught her eye. I can't wait to see what she does with the stuff she picked up. Love her style!

I felt totally humbled that she would spend a Saturday with me!  I'm sure there are a hundred things she could've been doing, but she chose me. She chose to take the time to connect with someone she didn't really know at all. I think that says so much about her.

P.S. I have one measly picture of our day and it was taken with my phone. I'm not really sure how to get the pictures from my phone to the computer so until then just picture some rockin' blue gingham and leather cuff power!

XOXO,
Angie

Just For Fun

I was reading Meg Duerksen's blog. Have you seen it? I like her a lot. I stole this whole thing from her. It's okay though because I think she stole it from someone else...

Right now I am:

Watching: Grey's Anatomy. I can't believe Jackson and April. Or Dr. Webber and Jackson's mom...

Drinking: Still sipping my Starbucks grande Caramel Macchiato with skim milk. One pump vanilla instead of three. They love me there, I'm sure. Joe just rolls his eyes when I order. I'm a girl, I'm supposed to be complicated, right?

Wearing: Black stretchy pants with white sweatshirt. Both from Target. Red Nike hat.

Eating: Just finished my grilled chicken with mixed veggies. I'm so boring. Is anyone still reading?? Oh, and I had a chocolate covered marshmallow egg leftover from Easter.

Listening: Sweet Selah crying in her crib. She thinks that twenty minute nap in the car was enough rest. It wasn't. Hoping she falls asleep...

Avoiding: Sit-ups. Didn't get them in at the gym this morning.... They will happen soon though. I won't allow myself to shower until they are done. It's nearly bikini season you know.

Wishing: Someone would come do my laundry. Or mop the kitchen. Or that my husband would buy me that Roomba robot vacuum thing. Or a new camera.

Feeling: TIRED. Getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 most mornings is exhausting. So is carpooling/feeding/potty training/cleaning up after three kiddos. EXHAUSTING!

Missing: Days when I ran pain free...but still very, very grateful my legs can do it at all. It's amazing what a woman's body goes through don't ya think?

Thankful: So much. Mostly that God chases us down with His love. Over and over again.

Craving: The cookie dough in the fridge. We bought four tubs from Isaac's school. I'm pretending it's not there...

Wondering: How tomorrow will go. I'm meeting Shannan Martin...you know, Flower Patch Farmgirl?! Like, for reals, live and in person! I'm holding her bar stool hostage. I told her I won't hand it over unless she takes me out for Mexican. Thankfully she agreed. It all goes down in less than twenty four hours.

Praying: My kids know the Lord. Like really, really know Him. I want their relationship with Him to be their's and their's alone. Not something they do to make mommy and daddy happy, but something they crave. Something they can't get enough of.

Needing: A shower. And sleep.

What about you? What are you up to?

Happy Weekending!

XOXO,
Angie

A Few Thoughts and Things I Don't Want To Forget

I walked into Gabe's preschool this morning, one arm carrying the Birthday Bag they give each student the day of their birthday. I was returning it two days late. Slung over the other arm was another bag that held Cleo, the class 'pet'. She was also a few days late. At that precise moment I remembered I was in charge of bringing in Clorox wipes. Two weeks ago. So, I apologized for the late 'pet', the late Birthday Bag return...and I promised I would have the wipes at pick up today. Mrs. Heather just looked at me and said something like, "Don't worry about it, we've got it covered until you get them."  I love her. She's a mom of four, I'm guessing she's been there before. I get the feeling she knows I'm doing my best. I wanted to hug her.

Today on the radio I heard a story about a woman who was a prostitute. She happened to be listening to KLOVE and decided to call the radio station so she could talk to one of the pastors they have on staff. She gave her heart to the Lord during that phone call. They told her God had forgiven her and that He remembers her sin no more. She mentioned the thing that got her through most days was remembering  the scent of her infant son's hair, a son she hasn't seen in several years. They told her God loves her like that. He adores her just like she adores that child. He knows each hair on her head. It 's just amazing how He loves us. I love that the creator of my soul spoke to me during a radio station pledge drive. It makes me want to tell this hurting world that there's so much more to life than the here and now. It will get so much better. 

Things I Don't Want To Forget:

*The way Gabe runs to get his toy garbage truck the instant he hears the real one pulling onto our street. He loves watching that massive machine lift loads and dump the waste into the back.

*Selah crying out for me in the dark of the night, requesting we rock in her chair. It's not thirty seconds later and she's pointing with that chubby little index finger wanting back into her crib. I love the way she just likes knowing I'm a shout out away. And I love drinking her in even if it is only for a swift thirty seconds. Someday I will want those moments back. I just know it.

*The way Gabe and Selah have found their groove. They can play happily together. I love the feeling I get watching them pretend to play in her little kitchen or the way they can erect quite the town out of wooden train tracks, cars and blocks or the way they fly through the house with matchbox airplanes and rockets pretending to be pilots. Precious.

*Isaac crawling into bed with us at two a.m. because he had a bad dream. I love that even as he grows, even as he wants to stretch himself in new directions, branching out just a little from mommy and daddy, well, I love that he still needs us. I love that we offer that comfort to him.

*Joe and I staying up late, talking side by side in bed about how fun it is watching our oldest play baseball. How we think he's really good and how we aren't just saying that because he's ours...

There's more. More thoughts, more things I can't wait to write about, like my big boy turning five, me turning thirty four, Isaac and Gabe's first baseball game and how I want people to see Jesus in me. I want it written all over my face the way Selah's looks after she's been caught getting into the Easter basket. Completely covered, not a speck untouched. I wonder what I'd look like if I cared more about what He thought, loving myself the way He loves me, seeing myself through His eyes. I wonder if I'd recognize any part of me....

Gotta go...Selah just pulled leftover cake frosting out of the fridge. I'm sure she thinks it's a perfectly acceptable snack. Heck, some days I think it is.

Oh, and I have to buy those Clorox wipes...

XOXO,
Angie

Sweet Things

This week I saw my dad. I don't see him very much, sad as that is. When I do though, it's great. Always. I can't explain it, really. The way my soul calms the very instant I look in his eyes. The way my body relaxes as he hugs me, his mustache whiskers brushing my cheek. The scent of  his familiar cologne that in a nanosecond has me feeling like I'm six all over again. I'm with my dad and I feel myself relax, my guard comes down, I can breathe in the slowness of pace and just be me. The best gift of all, I think, is when we can truly be ourselves and our parents allow us to do that more easily than any other. So many times I ask myself where I would be without this amazing man in my life. Where I would've ended up. He is incredible. If you know my dad, you are blessed. He is one of a kind, of this I'm certain.  He's the one who witnessed my first breaths of life, those tender first cries. The one who walked the floor with me as an infant, the one who I feel praying me through the hard days along with the good and every season in between. The one who watched my first steps, who celebrates the joys, holds me in the hard times and every season in between, whether physically or on his knees in prayer.  My dad, I couldn't love him anymore if I tried. Yes, I saw my daddy and it was good.

Other happenings this week included a lot of ordinary. As I sat with Isaac watching a basketball game (hello, more dad memories!), he exuberantly exclaimed "Sweet!" as a strong player dunked a shot.  I thought to myself,  "when did he get so big?!" I wasn't even aware he knew that term for anything other than a tasty treat :) He wakes by alarm clock and is responsible for making his bed, getting dressed, brushing his hair and teeth and doing his breathing treatment which includes several steps, all on his own before I walk in the door from the gym. He's getting big. It breaks my heart and makes me proud all at the same time. It makes me think that the first person to come up with the idea of a time machine was most certainly a mama trying not to allow childhood to escape her kiddos too quickly.

We've been outdoors a lot, tossing footballs, swinging bats. I have boys and that's just what boys do. It's so much fun watching them get stronger. Thinking back over the years when they would get so frustrated trying to get the ball and bat to connect, well, that doesn't happen as often anymore. They get bigger, they get better, they grow. Constantly. 

Speaking of growing, Gabe's fifth birthday is less than a month away. Five, wow. That's all I've got for now, wow!  Seems like it was just yesterday he was a little guy rolling around on his play mat in the living room...

It was a good week. Spring seems to be here for good. The grass is green, the trees and flowers are blooming, neighbors are mowing. A foretaste of summer. I can't wait. Late bedtimes, dirty feet, the scent of sunscreen on my babies. What are you looking forward to?

XOXO,
Angie

Weekend

This weekend started out as it usually does, me headed to the gym for a couple of hours and then back to my favorite place, home. 

Over the past four-ish years home has been several different places. I've come to the conclusion though that it's not the space that's welcoming, it's the people inside. I really love those people inside. My people.

Joe made pancakes for the kids. It's become their special Saturday morning ritual. So sweet. And I love the aroma that hits me when I walk in the door. Usually I'm able to sneak a few bites from a syrupy plate with a sticky fork but not this time. The kitchen's been cleaned. The only thing lingering is the sweet maple scent.

Other highlights of the weekend included the boys' very first baseball practice ever and they LOVED it. I can't wait to see where this road leads...

When did they get so big? Baseball, really? Shouldn't they still be eating puzzle pieces??

Sunday was relaxed. A take-your-time kind of breakfast with the paper and hot coffee. Selah still has strep throat so we didn't go to church,  we just, sort of, last minute decided rest was best for all of us. We rarely ever skip church. Late, yes. Skip, not so much.

The day unfolded quite nicely. Kids playing in the tub. Mama getting all the laundry done and put the heck away. Sometimes it sits folded in baskets forever. Not this day. As I sat watching HGTV and folded leggings and pink things it hit me once again that I have a girl.  I never knew how much I wanted one until I had one. I thought I was simply cut out to be a mama of boys. My sweet, loving, easygoing  boys. Over the years they've reminded me of just how much fun trains and hot wheels, worms and wrestling can be. It's been such a blessing to see the differences, the similarities.  I just witnessed Isaac ever so gently placing a bandage on Selah's skinned knee. "It's okay, I know what I'm doing." Love him and how he and his brother came running when they heard Selah cry after she fell down...

We biked to one of our favorites for lunch and noted that they now offer Kids Eat Free Mondays. I'm quite certain we will be taking them up on that! We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Such a beautiful day to be out,  it has me ready for summer break. We've been busy talking about all the things we want to do this year. I can't wait. More adventures, more memory making.

Then BOTH boys came down with a fever. Bummer. The kids played in the yard with bare feet and short sleeves after the sun went down, thanks to the help of Tylenol. We tossed the football, raced across the patio and bandaged the first skinned knees of spring.

Gotta go, I've been invited to sit side by side sick kiddos and color, it won't be for much longer that they choose Mama for such things.

Happy Monday out there.

XOXO,
Angie

Hello There

So, it's been awhile. Our computer wasn't working. Joe bought some sort of magic computer cord and now we are back. It feels good to be back, to be getting my thoughts out again.


A lot has happened since the last time I sat at this computer and wrote about our little life here on Burke Ct. We celebrated Joe's thirty-eighth birthday, had an impromptu Super Bowl party, welcomed friends to our new space, met sweet neighbors, had fun doing a little decorating and all the typical day to day life stuff.  We study Bible verses and spelling words, practice our vocabulary and math facts. We laugh at little sister when she says new words and phrases like "No way, Jose". We shake our heads, smile and wonder where she picked it up...

As always, time keeps truckin' on by. I find myself at the end of yet another full week thinking "I can't believe it's Friday already!"  And with signing the boys up for baseball, I don't see things slowing down one bit. But it's all good. ALL good :)

My girl has totally and completely wrecked my heart, slayed it into a million pieces. So different from her brothers. Her most recent? Saying "I love you too".  I gently place her in her honey hued crib, brush my finger across her cheek and say "Night, night, I love you" and she sweetly responds, "I love you too".  My boys still don't do that! They have their own charm and fascination though. Kids, a God given gift, that's for sure.

She's all about the babies right now. It's adorable the way she totes them wherever she goes. None have names, just "baby". She loves changing their diaper, feeding them, putting them "nigh, nigh" and ever so gently holding one to her cheek and patting its back if it's sad or hurt.

It's a good thing she's cute because girlfriend can throw one heck of a temper tantrum. Just ask my two gym buddies we went out to lunch with last week. After telling her she needed to eat a few bites of chicken before having more chips she proceeded to fling her plate across the room...and then her brother's. It was awesome. Okay, not really. My boys never did that either...

It's hard to believe she's the same age the boys were when we welcomed a new baby into our family. Joe and I have been talking about that lately, having a fourth. I go back and forth. It's nice to have everyone sleeping through the night, to have little people who can pick up after themselves even if it isn't done perfectly. But then there's the other stuff like nursing, feeling a baby move for the first time inside of me. I'm just not ready to close that door. I'm grateful for a husband who at least entertains the idea of another even if he is perfectly fine with our family as it is. I'm grateful for a God who has a plan, who knows the deepest desires of my heart and who knows what's best for me, for us. I like that, even though I'm not a spring chicken, I still have a little time to think it over, to pray about it.

Random thought breaking in here: You know the Disney commercial that plays One Republic's "Good Life" song? I love that song even if it does have some swear words...I just ignore that part... It plays every morning when I'm at the gym and it's all I can do to not break out into some sort of awkward dance number on the elliptical. Can you imagine? That would be pretty hysterical! Anyway, I try not to let the fellow gym goers see me singing along...

But that song reminds me that this really is the good life. It really, really is. Even if we never make that trip to Disney with the kids or give them all the things, opportunities, memories we wish we could, we've got all we ever need and so much more. These three souls that share our DNA, that have us striving to be our very best, that grip our hearts with nothing more than simply making eye contact. That and a heavenly father who shows us so much grace and love, faithfulness and hope, opportunities to start new and fresh every single morning....it's the good life and it's happening right here, right now. I'm off to go soak it up!

Feeling very blessed this Friday morning. Happy almost weekend :)

XOXO,
Angie

I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World

We were talking over lettuce wraps and sweet tea at Mongolian BBQ. It was just Joe and I which was a nice birthday surprise from my mom.

So, as the kids were enjoying some grandma time Joe and I were enjoying some good conversation. As we sat there and talked about all sorts of things, mostly parenting, I was taking note of the eighties tunes quietly playing overhead.

I love eighties music. (Right now my sister Emily is rolling her eyes and throwing up in her mouth a little bit...she's not a fan of the eighties music...)Like, it's probably my favorite, that and country. I never ever listen to either of those genres anymore though. It's all KLOVE all the time around here. The contemporary christian music station we jam to as we drive around town. I love it. I especially love hearing my kids sing along to worship and praise songs. Probably the sweetest thing my ears have ever heard.

But last night it was nice to hear familiar songs from my childhood. Songs that took me back to favorite memories of my mom and dancing in our teeny living room together, songs that brought back precious memories of my dad, songs that had special meaning in significant relationships. And songs that, as I listened, began to have new meaning. Like I heard them through different ears and for the very first time. Songs that I've heard a thousand times but for some reason brought tears to my eyes as I thought of them in a new way.

"I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World" by Ronnie Milsap did just that. It had a whole different meaning to me all of a sudden. That song made me think about things like countless sleepless nights. Nights where I noticed distant train whistles at two in the morning, certainly something I wouldn't have noticed before rocking a hungry baby in the stillness of the night.

It made me think about how difficult it can be now to just drop everything and go out to lunch with a friend or make a trip to the mall. How it's hard to do anything spur of the moment.

How I used to keep my house spotless. I even had the ability to have something for years and years before it broke. Now chubby, sticky fingers move pretty fast and have superhuman strength as they toss the remote across the room, or in my case, the mouse that just took a bad bounce onto a linoleum floor and split into two pieces. Yeah, that never happened before kids.

And neither did about a million other scenarios.

But ya know what?

I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World...

No mama would. We love our kids no matter what. Those are the things we know we will someday look back on and laugh. It bonds us to all the other mommies out there when we meet at play group and try to "one up" each other with our "Oh yeah, well guess what my little one flushed down the toilet" stories.

Right now I can't really imagine a less chaotic life. One that doesn't require prying three DVDs out of the DVD player or breaking up fights over who gets the first slice of cake or going through homework folders and making sure my big boy reads at least twenty minutes every night. What in the world will I do when I only have to do laundry once a week?  What will I do when my days don't require two, three or four cups of coffee??

I know what. I will miss it. I will miss these days. I will think back and remember how very challenging they were and wonder how I made it through. I will wish I had little people clinging to my leg and begging to play kitchen.

So, for now, I will soak up every single second. I will be more patient, I will stop and play when they ask me to, I will refrain from rolling my eyes and muttering under my breath when I walk into a room strewn with toys. All too soon the toy room will transition into something else, maybe a room with a couch that doesn't have peanut butter marks or hot wheels under cushions. Too soon.

Every soaked floor from a crazed bath, every Lego I've stepped on in the middle of the night, every girls night out I've missed well, it's okay because this kid thing?  I agree with Ronnie, I wouldn't have missed it for the world...

Happy Monday out there. Go hug your little people :)

XOXO,
Angie